Clarity
by emotionsovrflow
Summary: Brooke and Sam navigate their feelings for one another and what it means for them in terms of their relationship, their friends and family. Turbulence is expected. Brooke/Sam pairing
1. Crush

**Author's Note: I started writing this sometime around late 2001/early 2002. I stalled on it, but never fully gave up on it and have finally decided to finish what I started. Being over ten years removed, it reads almost like a period piece. I'm not even sure if there's an audience for this fandom anymore, but I'm putting it out there in the world. If you're reading, I hope you enjoy.**

**Another thing I'd like to mention is that I've only ever seen two episodes of this show, and all of my knowledge comes from having read fanfic.**

**Title taken from the Jimmy Eat World album Clarity. Each chapter is named after a song on the album.**

**I do not own Popular or it's characters. I do not own Jimmy Eat World or their music. The only thing to which I can lay claim is the arrangement of the words herewithin.**

**Chapter 1 - Crush**

It hadn't been obvious at first. Sam likened the realization to a snowball rolling downhill. A melting smile here, an intoxicating laugh there with a few sleepy morning encounters in their shared bathroom thrown into the mix. It was all too much, and it had resulted in Sam having her tiny snowball of a crush on Brooke McQueen turn into an outright avalanche.

After driving herself half insane with speculation and wonder for weeks, Sam decided it was time to take a chance. She took a few steadying breaths and knocked on the door to Brooke's bedroom. After a bit of a shuffle the door opened. Brooke smiled at her and said, "Hey Sam, what's up?"

"Uh…" She was at a loss. Brooke's smile had turned her knees to jelly, and apparently her brain as well. "What was our Bio homework?"

"We're supposed to read and outline Chapter 6."

"Thanks."

"Anytime." And with that Brooke flashed her smile again and closed the door. For a moment Sam just stood there, looking bewildered and becoming more and more disappointed in herself. She was about to turn and go back to her own room to sulk over her failure, but instead she knocked again.

Brooke opened the door, her eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Yeah?"

"Uh…" Oh no, not again. Sam shook her head to try to clear the cobwebs. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ok," she said, drawing out the word in a mixture of confusion and apprehension. "Come in then."

Sam walked in and stood in the middle of the room, internally going over what she was going to say, cursing herself for not having done this prior to coming in here. "So what's up?" Brooke asked, shaking Sam out of her concentration.

"Well," she cleared her throat purely out of nervousness. "You see, for a while now… I mean… Well," She was pacing now, and Brooke was watching her with a faint smile on her lips. "I've kinda had these feelings for you. At first I just brushed it off. But now, I don't know. It seems like you might feel the same way. And I guess I was just wondering if this was all in my imagination, or if you really do have feelings for me."

"Oh boy," Brooke breathed. Her smile was gone now. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to have this conversation."

Sam felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach. Protectively, she crossed her arms in front of herself. "Why's that?"

Brooke bowed her head. "Sam, come sit down," she asked softly.

"I'd rather stand." She wasn't sure she could have moved if she wanted to.

"Ok." Brooke took a deep breath. "Look, I've known about all of this for a while. And yes, I do have feelings for you. But come on. It's not like we could ever have a relationship. So why even…"

"This isn't because of our parents is it?" Sam interrupted. "Cause we aren't really sisters and it doesn't make any sense to not see where this could go because they're together."

"It's not that. But in a way, yes, it is because of our parents. And our friends and everyone else that we know. 'Hey everybody, I'm dating a girl.' I think we both know how that would go over. I can't risk everything that I know because I have a little crush. I hope you understand." The sadness written across Brooke's face wasn't completely lost on Sam, but at the moment, she didn't care.

"Yeah, I understand," Sam said in a calm tone. "You don't have the balls to be yourself." Brooke flinched. "Come to think of it, I don't know why I expected any different from you anyway." She turned to leave.

"I'm sorry, Sammy," Brooke said quietly.

Sam stopped, looked back at her and said, "Don't call me that," before walking out the door and back to her own room.

The calmness that she had displayed after Brooke's rejection vanished as soon as she closed her bedroom door. She wasn't sure what sounded most appealing, breaking everything in her room, screaming at Brooke until her voice was gone or punching herself in the face for being so stupid. She opted for choice D and lay face down on her bed and cried until she couldn't anymore, occasionally pounding her frustration into one of her pillows.

Over an hour of this behavior had done nothing but given Sam a headache. She got up and walked into the bathroom. After splashing some cold water on her face, logic and reason seemed to return to her. The conversation with Brooke hadn't been a complete bust. After all, she now knew that it wasn't just her imagination, Brooke actually did have feelings for her. All hope was not yet lost. She just needed a plan, a little confidence and, at the moment, some Tylenol.


	2. Table for Glasses

**Chapter 2 – Table for Glasses**

It had started off as a beautiful Friday morning, but the afternoon had brought with it an angry thunderstorm. Three weeks had passed since Brooke had rejected Sam. Since then, the two girls had barely spoken to each other unless it was absolutely necessary. Sam had devised a course of action that she thought would be most effective in getting Brooke to fall undeniably for her. Unfortunately, step one involved becoming close friends with the blonde, and Sam wasn't ready to dive back into that just yet. It had seemed as though they were already on the way there before she had opened her big mouth, but in light of their current situation, the two of them had become relative strangers again.

Swallowing her pride and pushing aside her pain, Sam decided it was time to cave in and break the silence. She found Brooke standing at her locker and, after mustering a bit of courage, approached her. "Hey Brooke," she said in a pitch a little higher than intended, startling the blonde.

Brooke jumped and turned fast on her heel. "Sam, you scared me."

"Sorry, I was just wondering if I could have a ride home. It's pouring out there and I didn't bring an umbrella."

"Of course. I'd never let you walk home in this. Just give me a sec." Brooke gathered the last of her books, slammed her locker shut and started out towards the parking lot with Sam behind her. They made a mad dash for the car and were safely inside in record speed.

"Thank God for remote locks," Sam said, wiping away some of the rain from her hair and clothes.

"Amen to that." Brooke took a moment to situate herself before starting the car.

It was easy to fall back into the pattern they had grown accustomed to. They spent the entire ride home in an awkward silence, Brooke watching the road intently and Sam watching the rain drip down her window. Once they had pulled into the driveway, Sam decided to break the ice before they had a chance to run into the house and go their separate ways. "Brooke," she started, but quickly realized she didn't know exactly what it was she wanted to say.

Brooke waited for a moment, giving Sam an opportunity to continue. When nothing more came she offered a quiet "Yeah?" as her eyes dropped to her lap and she gripped the steering wheel the tiniest bit harder.

After careful consideration, Sam figured honesty would be the best policy and said, "I miss you."

Brooke grinned and turned to look at her. "I miss you too, Sam."

"I know we've been avoiding each other lately, but do you think we could just go back to the way things were? I want to be friends again."

Brooke's grin turned into a full-fledged smile. "I'd like that."

Sam smiled back. "Good," she said before flinging her door open and sprinting for the house. Brooke chuckled to herself and did the same. Once inside, she found Sam still trying to shake the rain off.

"I'm freezing. What do you say we have some hot chocolate?"

"Sure, I'll go start the water," Brooke said as she took off her jacket and hung it up to dry. "It should be ready by the time we're finished changing into some dry clothes."

"Cool." And with that, Sam was bounding up the stairs to her room. As she changed into her most comfortable sweats, she mused about how well everything had gone in the car. She had expected Brooke to either want to talk about their conversation in her room that day or offer an apology of some sort and she was more than grateful that it hadn't been mentioned at all. When she was done changing, she made her way down to the kitchen to find Brooke wearing, what Sam assumed to be, her most comfortable sweats. Brooke heard her coming and turned to look at her.

"Hey, just in time. Sit down, I'll bring your cocoa over to you."

"Thanks."

Brooke came over to the table with two cups and handed one to Sam before sitting down across from her. "So, I was wondering. Do you have any plans for tonight? I was supposed to do something with Nicole, but I don't feel like going out in this rain. I thought we could have a movie night or something, there's a Harry Potter marathon on tv again."

Sam was a bit surprised at how quickly Brooke had been able to jump from their imposed silence to being movie buddies, but she was thankful nonetheless. "Sounds good. I've had enough of this rain already. I have no desire to go back out into it. Besides, I'm already in my sweats, it would be a shame to have to put on real clothes."

"I agree," Brooke said with a smile before taking a swig of her hot chocolate.


	3. A Sunday

**Chapter 3 – A Sunday**

Movie night had been fun. Brooke and Sam had watched Harry Potter as planned. The obligatory popcorn had been made, three bags to be exact. Most of it had gone to waste since they threw handfuls of it at the television every time Draco Malfoy had been on screen. After the movie they had stayed up watching horrible late night TV, laughing at the ridiculous infomercials until they had fallen asleep to the latest wonderful invention that was being offered to them at a fraction of the retail value.

Saturday had passed without much contact between the housemates. Brooke had gone off somewhere with Nicole quite early. That afternoon, Lily had called Sam asking her to come over because Carmen was having some sort of crisis. After a few hours of melodrama, Sam had reached her breaking point. She decided it was imperative to get home immediately to tend to her Trig homework, leaving a scowling Lily to deal with Carmen on her own.

Shortly after 6am on Sunday morning, Sam stumbled into the bathroom. Brooke, having been awake for a half hour already, heard her and hopped up off her bed. Waiting until the sink was running, she threw the door open and said, "Morning Sam!"

"Jeeze, Brooke. Next time, at least wait until I'm conscious to scare the crap out of me," she said, nearly jumping out of her skin.

"Sorry. I'm just happy you're awake so early."

"I'm not awake. It may look as though I'm awake. But trust me, I am not awake." Sam eyed her curiously. "Why?"

"Cause I thought we could take a road trip," Brooke responded innocently.

"A road trip? A road trip to where?"

"Well, ok, not a real road trip. But we'd have to drive to get there," she said, trying to convince Sam before she even really made her suggestion.

Sam chuckled softly. "Where do you want to go, Brooke?"

From the tone in her voice it was obvious that Sam was now fully awake and willing to do whatever Brooke would suggest. The blonde knew it and her earlier giddiness returned. "Well, Adventure Island opened last week."

Sam's jaw dropped and her eyes lit up. "Adventure Island? You want to go to Adventure Island? Right now?" She looked about as happy as a 7 year old on Christmas morning.

Fueled by Sam's excitement, Brooke abandoned all vagueness. "Yes, right now. It'll take us at least 2 hours to get there and they open at 9. The lines are SO short first thing in the morning. We can go on all the good rides first then take our time for the rest of the day."

Instead of responding, Sam ran back into her room to get ready. Brooke shouted at Sam's back, "I'll take that as a yes!"

Since she was already dressed, Brooke went downstairs to make the final preparations. She grabbed a few bottles of water out of the fridge, some granola bars out of the pantry, checked to make sure she had enough cash on hand, and then wrote a note to leave for their parents. Just as she was finished going through her mental checklist, Sam came down the stairs, practically bouncing with excitement. "We ready?" she asked.

"Yup. I grabbed some car friendly breakfast treats, I have the cash and now I have you. Let's go." And with that, they were off.

* * *

"Don't you listen to anything other than boy bands and Britney Spears?" Sam asked after finding nothing she liked in Brooke's CD folder.

"Um… Hello! That's a Jessica Simpson CD right there."

"Yes. Jessica Simpson: A member of the Britney Spears' clone army. Seriously, don't you listen to any real music?"

"Maybe you should look in my other case." Brooke said, pointing to a black CD folder in the center console.

"Oh," Sam said, feeling a bit foolish. "I didn't see that one." She picked it up and flipped through, searching for something that wouldn't make her ears bleed. Surprisingly, she found a diverse selection of music in her hands. "You listen to Simon and Garfunkle?" Sam asked, surprised.

Brooke sighed. She was getting tired of Sam putting down her music collection. "Yes! I listen to Simon and Garfunkle! They're wonderful. Don't make fun until you give it a chance," she said pointing an accusatory finger at the brunette.

"I love Simon and Garfunkle. I was just surprised is all. I don't know anyone else our age who listens to them." Now it was Brooke's turn to feel foolish.

Sam's choice of music had turned out to be perfect for their drive. It made for nice background music, and was easy to talk over. Two hours seemed to fly by, and before they knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot of Adventure Island. They had arrived just as the park was opening and had managed to go on all of the four major roller coasters at least once by noon. After exiting their favorite of the bunch for the third time, Brooke walked over to a bench and sat down.

"We need to stop for a minute, Sam."

"You ok? You look a little green. I could go get you a Sprite if you want."

"Would you mind?" Brooke asked a little pathetically. Sam mused that pathetic looked kind of cute on the blonde as she walked over to the vending machine. After handing Brooke her soda, Sam sat on the bench and started looking over the map of the park. Brooke was sitting with her head between her knees, trying to will her stomach to stop doing somersaults. Once she had started feeling a little better, she asked if Sam had found anything fun to do.

"Personally, I could go for some lunch," the brunette replied. At the look she received from her companion, she knew that was out of the question for the time being. "Right. So I guess another ride is out of the question too. Well, over there," she pointed to a large blue structure to their right, "they have a water show called Aquatic Wonders. You know, where they make a seal balance a ball and make the dolphin jump through a hoop. Like Shamu."

"Shamu is a whale," Brooke pointed out.

"Well you know what I mean. Either way, it doesn't involve going really fast or being flipped upside down. I figure we could go sit and let your stomach rest a little. The next show starts in like 10 minutes."

"Sounds like a plan." They walked the short distance over to the stadium and found seats a fair distance away from the splash zone. Upon entering, they were greeted with the wonderful smell of saltwater and fish. Brooke had started to feel a bit nauseous again and laid her head on Sam's shoulder. The brunette's heart fluttered upon contact, and for a minute, the two just sat in comfortable silence.

"Hello ladies." They looked up to see two guys about their age standing in the aisle. "I'm Mark, this is my friend James," the brains of the operation said with a broad grin on his face. James, obviously shy, waved politely and ducked his head, appearing as though he would rather be having his teeth pulled than standing there at that moment.

"Hi Mark, James," Sam offered. "I'm Josephine. This is Eleanor." Brooke looked away and tried to suppress a giggle.

"Nice to meet you. You two look like you could use some company. Mind if we sit down?"

Sam looked to Brooke and raised a quizzical eyebrow. Brooke grinned and turned back to their gentlemen callers. "You know, I think we're doing fine on our own. Thanks anyway."

James seemed to be shrinking into himself as his over-confident counterpart continued. "Are you sure? It's a shame for two beautiful women such as yourselves to be all alone."

Brooke wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulders, leaned in and lightly kissed her neck. Immediately, Sam melted into a puddle. "We're sure. Have a nice day, boys."

Wide eyed, James promptly fled the scene, followed shortly by Mark after a bit of stammering and a quick goodbye.

"Ladies and Gentlemen… Adventure Island is proud to present Aquatic Wonders!"

* * *

The rest of the afternoon had passed by nicely. By the time 5 o'clock had rolled around, they had done all that there was to do and seen all that there was to see. Both tired, they had decided to leave and try to beat the mad dash to get home when the park closed at 8. Carrying the various souvenirs they had either purchased or won throughout the day, Brooke and Sam made their way to the parking lot.

"I'm exhausted, would you mind driving home?" Brooke asked. "I don't want to fall asleep and end up swerving off the highway."

"Sure. I'm not completely spent yet. I think I could manage."

"Thanks, Josephine. Where did you come up with those lame names anyway?"

Sam had to think about this for a moment. "I'm not sure. It was just on impulse, I guess."

"Well, next time you have an impulse to give me an alias, make it something from this century, please."

"I'll do my best," Sam laughed, as they reached the car. As soon as they were inside, Brooke reclined her seat and curled into a comfortable position, closing her eyes.

Sam started the car. "Thanks for inviting me today, Brooke. I had a great time."

"Me too, Sammy," Brooke said, then promptly drifted off to sleep. Sam smiled at the blonde, shifted the car into drive and started the long ride home.


	4. Lucky Denver Mint

**I wanted to leave a quick note here to thank GilmoreRos who has been helping me with my writing process over the past few days as I've been working through edit after edit after edit.**

**4 - Lucky Denver Mint**

Brooke was having a hard time keeping her mind off of Sam. When the brunette had come to talk to her about the attraction they had been feeling towards one another, she had been adamant that they should ignore whatever was going on between them. Before talking about it, Brooke had assumed that they would both just pretend it was nothing and never even speak of it. Eventually, their feelings would fade, and they could move on.

Unfortunately she was finding that their conversation, if anything, had made her interest grow. When they had stopped speaking to each other, Brooke was surprised by how much she had missed Sam's company, even in a strictly platonic capacity. Since they had started hanging out again, though, Brooke couldn't help but feel like they were on some sort of pseudo-date every time they spent any time together just the two of them.

She was partially annoyed at Sam for even bringing it up. She had been fairly certain that Sam was into her, but with it being confirmed, something seemed to have changed inside of Brooke. It was like a switch had been flipped and there was now a giant spotlight on how she felt about her housemate. She would find herself daydreaming about the brunette at school, as she was trying to fall asleep, pretty much all the time.

As she lay on her stomach, trying to focus on a paper that was due the next day, she was completely preoccupied thinking of their situation. Just as she was about to give up on her homework altogether, there was a knock on her door.

"It's open," she called out.

The object of Brooke's imagination stuck her head in through the doorway. "Hey, mind if I come in for a sec?"

Brooke dropped her pen and said, "no, come on in, Sam. What's up?"

Sam smiled and entered the room fully, closing the door behind her. "I was wondering if you had heard about that party on Saturday? I mean, supposedly everyone is going, so..."

Brooke remembered something that Nicole had said earlier today. "Yeah, I think I'm supposed to go. Are you?"

"Carm and Lil want to go, so I think I'm gonna head over at least for a while, yeah."

"Oh, cool." Brooke nodded at Sam who just continued to stand there, looking at her somewhat expectantly. "Was there something else?"

Sam cringed. "Actually, there is." Brooke felt her heart rate pick up speed before the brunette continued. "Do you think you could drive me? I don't really have any other way of getting there, and it would be really far out of the way for Carmen to come pick me up."

Brooke let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, though she couldn't say for certain it was out of relief. "Absolutely. Yeah, that's fine. It would be silly not to drive you."

"Cool!" Sam looked down at the books in front of Brooke. "Working on that comparative piece for lit?"

Brooke sighed heavily and scowled at her notebook. "Yes. I wish it would just write itself."

"It's due tomorrow right?" Sam asked, to which Brooke nodded. "If you want, I could help you out a little. Read over what you have and try to help you along. I'm done with my homework for the night, so I'm not really doing anything else."

Brooke took a moment to consider her options. On the one hand, she really needed help with this. On the other, she thought it might be best to try to limit her contact with Sam since she was feeling so stressed out about everything concerning her.

"That would be great. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time writing this thing."

* * *

Sam had helped Brooke finish her paper and the blonde was happy with the way it had turned out. She had turned it in on Friday morning and felt relief that the project was finished and out of her hands. That night, she had hung out with Nicole and Mary Cherry, going to the mall and seeing a movie. She had been happy to spend some time apart from Sam and out of the house. She even managed to stop obsessing about her and focus her attention on her friends.

Both Brooke and Sam had spent most of the day Saturday doing homework and otherwise keeping to themselves. Jane cooked an early dinner and once they had finished helping clean up, they went to their rooms to get ready for the evening. Meeting downstairs just before 8:30, they yelled a quick goodbye to their parents as they headed out to the car.

Driving in relative silence, Brooke wondered if Sam was aware of the unease that she was feeling. As if on cue, Sam turned to her and offered, "you look really nice tonight, Brooke."

Brooke's shoulders lowered, the tension she had been holding dissipating a bit. She smiled warmly and responded, "thanks, Sam. So do you."

As they got close to the party, Brooke found a parking spot near the beginning of the street and parked smoothly, about a block from their destination. They got out of the car and started walking toward the house, already able to hear the loud music coming from inside. "You're meeting Lily and Carmen here, right?"

"Yeah, and I think Harrison is supposed to show his face at some point. What about you? Are Satan's minions coming tonight?"

"Yes, Sam." Brooke rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that played at her lips. "Nicole and Mary Cherry should already be inside."

As they approached the door, Sam turned to Brooke. "Ok then, thanks for the ride. Guess I'll see you around in there."

"Yeah, have fun." Brooke seemed to want to add something else but faltered.

"What is it?"

Brooke stood still for a moment, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, holding her breath. "Do you think you'll need a ride home?"

Sam, cocking her head to the side curiously, replied, "I don't know. Maybe. Try to find me if you're going to leave, and I'll do the same, ok? We'll see what happens."

"Ok, cool. Sounds like a plan."

They each walked into the house and were swallowed by opposite sides of the crowd.

* * *

Throughout the night, Brooke had seemed to have a sixth sense concerning Sam. At any given moment, she knew exactly where she was and who she was with. If she was being honest with herself, she would admit that she had purposely tried to keep her within eyesight while also maintaining maximum distance. At the moment though, Brooke had lost track of her. She was scowling slightly as she scanned the crowd.

"Who is that?" Nicole asked, enunciating each word with earnest.

Brooke and Mary Cherry both turned their heads to see who Nicole was glaring at. They saw a tall, handsome, muscular, dark haired guy that neither of them had seen before.

Josh came up behind them, having overheard Nicole's question. "That guy? That's Alex. He just transferred here last week. He walked right onto the lacrosse team. The dude's a beast!"

As Alex shifted his weight to his other foot, revealing the person he was talking with, all three cheerleaders gasped.

"Why is he talking to Spam?" Nicole shouted, clearly upset. "Someone should go save him from the terrible mistake he's making."

"Calm down, Nicole," Josh started. "Sam's fine. I think maybe he's been trying to get involved with the newspaper. I swear you guys, if I was into dudes, that's the dude I would be into."

Nicole whipped her head to gape at Josh, who was staring at Alex with admiration clearly written across his face. Mary Cherry, on the other hand, was still staring at the new student with a hungry look in her eyes, licking her lips, muttering, "mmmmmmm hmmmmmm," in agreement.

"What the fuck have you been drinking, Ford?" Nicole spat at him.

"I'm just saying. He seems like he's a good guy."

At that point, Sugar Daddy walked up with a tray of shot glasses and a bottle of tequila. "Who wants some shots, homies?"

Brooke, whose attention had not wavered from Sam since she had come back into her view, quickly spun around, grabbed a shot glass and the bottle. She poured herself a shot and downed it in one gulp, causing her to cough as it burned it's way down her esophagus.

As Brooke went to pour herself another shot, Sugar Daddy said, "hey, you could leave some for the rest of us."

Nicole looked back to her friend and offered, "Jesus Christ, Brooke. Don't get sloppy."

"Shut up, Nicole," Brooke fired back. She finished pouring her shot and handed the bottle back to Sugar Daddy.

Nicole looked like she was about to put up a fight, then backed down. "You know what? Fuck all you idiots. I'm gonna go introduce myself to that sexy, sexy man who is currently wasting his time talking to that social reject you live with."

"Go get 'em." With that, Brooke slung back her second shot. This time, she didn't even flinch.

* * *

Sam was looking, unsuccessfully, for Brooke. Carmen had asked her and Lily if they wanted to stay the night at her house, so she wanted to let Brooke know she wouldn't be needing a ride. As she rounded a corner, getting ready to give up altogether, she ran directly into the blonde.

"Saaaaaaaaam! Where have you beeeeeen?" Brooke slurred, clearly drunk.

"Brooke, what the hell? You realize you drove, right?"

The sequence of expressions on Brooke's face mirrored the thought process that this question spurred. "Ohhhh nooooo. You're right! I did drive. What am I going to do, Sam?"

Though partially pissed off, Sam was finding Brooke to be quite endearing in her drunken state. "Where are your keys? I'll drive you." Sam had sipped on a beer towards the beginning of the night, but since then, had been sticking to water.

Brooke searched through her purse with a look of deep concentration. When she finally retrieved her keys, she pulled them out with a flourish and a, "ta daaaaaaaa!"

Sam chuckled at how proud she looked of her achievement. "Good job, Houdini. Come on." She grabbed the keys from Brooke's hand and wrapped an arm around her waist, leading her towards the front door.

As they made their way outside, they encountered Carmen and Lily who had been waiting for Sam. "Whoa," Carmen said, seeing Brooke's current state.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Sorry guys, I have to get her home. Raincheck on an all-nighter?"

"Of course. Will you be ok? Do you want us to come back to your house with you?" Lily asked as she and Carmen helped walk Brooke down the street and get her into the car.

"No, thanks. I'll be fine. Do you guys need a ride or anything?"

"We're ok. Just get home safe, yeah?" Carmen seemed concerned.

"Thanks, guys. I'll call you tomorrow."

Sam started the car and drove towards home. Brooke was completely wild, blasting the radio and singing along to every song that came on, to the protests of her current chauffeur. After a while, Sam gave up and decided to just concentrate on her driving. Once they were pulling onto their street, she finally convinced Brooke to settle down so they didn't wake their parents.

Sam managed to maneuver Brooke out of the car, and get her upstairs almost silently. Brooke, though still unsteady on her feet, managed to walk through the house with a wobbly sort of grace that Sam hadn't really witnessed before from anyone. Once they were in Brooke's room, the blonde flopped onto her bed.

"Hmm..." Laying on her back, staring at the ceiling, Brooke seemed to be deep in thought as Sam had kneeled down to remove the blonde's shoes. "I'm drunk, you know."

Sam laughed quietly and looked up at the blonde fondly. "Yes, Brooke. I know."

Brooke propped herself up on her elbows and stared into Sam's eyes, taking in a deep breath. "I want to tell you something."

"Hey. Listen, maybe you shouldn't. I don't want you to regret anything tomorrow, ok? So let's just wait."

"No!" Brooke protested, fully sitting up. "I won't regret it, Sam. I promise. I want to tell you now." Brooke reached out and placed her hand on Sam's cheek.

Sam sighed deeply, pressing her face into the blonde's hand. Contemplating the situation, she went back and forth in her mind as to how to proceed. "Brooke, I want you to be sure. Please just wait until tomorrow when you're thinking clearly. You really are quite drunk."

"I'm drunk because you were talking to that stupid guy." Brooke scowled.

"What stupid guy?" Sam asked, confused.

"Stupid Alex. With his stupid hair and his stupid muscles and his stupid face."

"Alex? He was asking me about the Zapruder. He wants to see about working on the paper and he had heard that I was involved."

"Well," Brooke pouted again, "I don't like him."

"Why did you get drunk because I was talking to him?" Sam asked, barely above a whisper.

"Because he's like, really hot. And I didn't like it. And you should have been talking to me instead. Because his face is stupid. And you're so pretty, Sam. And sometimes I just look at you and all I can see are your lips, and all I want to do is kiss them. I just want to kiss your stupid pretty lips on your stupid pretty face."

Sam's breath caught in her throat. She took Brooke's hand in her own and removed it from her face, dropping it down to Brooke's lap. She swallowed, trying to find her voice. "Brooke, you're drunk. You don't know what you're saying."

Brooke squeezed Sam's hand. "I do, Sam. I mean, yes, I'm drunk. But I know what I'm saying."

Sam nodded. "Ok. I believe you. But we're going to talk about this again, alright? Tomorrow? Or whenever. Just not now. Please."

"Okay," Brooke conceded finally.

"Let's get you into bed." At Sam's suggestion, Brooke got a devious smile on her face and raised her eyebrows before biting her lip. "Stop that, Brooke! Get changed, I'll come check on you in a minute."

Brooke nodded as Sam went into her own room and got into her pajamas, then stopped into the bathroom. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she tried not to think too hard about what had just transpired between her and Brooke.

She made her way back into Brooke's room and smiled when she saw the blonde snuggled in her covers, just her face poking out from underneath. "You look comfy."

"Mmm, yes. I am." Brooke definitely sounded like she meant it.

Sam sat on the edge of the bed. "Well, I hate to disrupt you, but you should take these." She put out her hand, showing Brooke two pills, a glass of water in her other hand.

"What is it?" Brooke asked, sitting up a little and dislodging herself from her blanket cocoon. She took the offered pills and swallowed them down with a large gulp of water, not even waiting for an answer to her question.

"Just some Tylenol. Drink as much of the water as you can, you'll be happy you did in the morning."

Brooke groaned a little and left the half filled glass on her nightstand. She looked up at Sam. "You always take such good care of me, Sammy."

"Anytime, Princess."

Brooke laid down again and snuggled back into her covers. Sam got up and crossed the room, turning off the lights.

"Sam?" Brooke said, stopping the brunette's exit. "We'll talk tomorrow?"

"If you still want to, yes." Sam replied, softly. "Get some sleep, Brooke."

"Night, Sam."

"Night, Brooke."


	5. 12 23 95

**Author's Note: Just reinforcing the fact that I've never really watched this show, just fell in love with the Brooke/Sam pairing through fanfic. That said, I have no idea when or how Sam's father died. If the timeline is off at all, I apologize. We'll just call it an AU and move on, cool?**

**Thanks to everyone who has read this and also to anyone who has taken the time to comment. **

**Sorry this update took a while to post. I had edited the last chapter a lot and needed almost completely rework this one to make things flow well and make sense and I had more trouble with it than I hoped I would have. IMMENSE thanks go to GilmoreRos for keeping me on track and dealing with my self-doubt and reassuring me that eventually it would work itself out, which it seems to have done.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 - 12.23.95**

Brooke woke up to a pounding in her head and a disgusting taste in her mouth. She tried to open her eyes, but found that the light coming in through her window felt as if it were shooting spikes through her skull. Hiding her face under her blankets, she tried to will herself to fall back to sleep, if only to escape her hangover.

Slowly, she became more aware of the world around her and the state she was in. Not only did she have a headache, but there was a general ache in her entire body. She was thirsty. She was sure that if it weren't for the slight nausea she was feeling, she could drink a gallon of water. None of this, however, was reason enough to propel her out of bed. It wasn't until she realized suddenly that her bladder was being pushed to it's physical limits that she knew she really did need to get up.

Throwing the covers off of herself and stumbling out of bed, Brooke made her way to the bathroom, thankful that she had the route memorized so she could keep her eyes closed. Mechanically going through the motions, she took care of her business. Standing over the sink, she opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light. Her reflection in the mirror was akin to something out of a nightmare. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot and red, her hair looked as if it had been through a tornado and there was makeup smeared all across her face.

She reached down to turn on the water, and she noticed a bottle of tylenol next to the sink with a note propped against it that read, "take 2." She smiled to herself, remembering how she had gotten home last night and how sweet Sam had been through all of it. The rest of the evening coming back to her slowly, Brooke felt a blush spread across her chest and up her neck, finally engulfing her whole face. She couldn't believe how frank she had been with Sam, admitting that she thought she was pretty and that she often thought about kissing her.

Taking a deep breath, Brooke reached down and opened the pill bottle, taking the advice of the note that was left, no doubt, by the reason for her embarrassment. Looking back in the mirror and assessing her appearance once again, she turned off the faucet and instead started the shower.

* * *

Looking at the clock and noting it was well after two in the afternoon, Sam considered checking on Brooke. She had heard the shower of their bathroom running hours ago, but then Brooke had gone back into her room and stayed there. Sam was about to go knock on the blonde's door, when she heard movement from upstairs. Not long after, Brooke came downstairs, looking almost put together.

"Good morning," Sam said, then, thinking better of it, "or good afternoon, I guess."

Brooke grunted in response and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge.

After trailing the blonde, Sam stood behind her, propped against the kitchen counter, watching as Brooke drank half the bottle without coming up for air. "How are you feeling?"

Brooke breathed heavily as she stared into the open refrigerator. "Better than I felt the first time I woke up. Thanks to you." She turned her head to offer Sam a half smile. "But now I'm starving."

Sam came up behind her, glancing over her shoulder. "You aren't going to find much in there. Mom and Mike are out at the movies and they were going to stop at the grocery store on their way home."

Brooke groaned and closed the door, opening the freezer to try her luck there. "Why don't we have any ice cream?" she whined. "I'm totally craving a milkshake."

Cocking her head to the side, Sam said, "hmmm," thoughtfully. "Well, if you're feeling like you could brave a trip out into the world, there's this ice cream place I know. We could go get you a milkshake."

"I don't know, Sam, I must look like hell."

"You always look good, Brooke. Even when you don't," Sam said, looking down to the floor.

Brooke shut the freezer and turned to look at Sam. "Thanks, Sammy." She thought for a moment, interrupted by the growling of her stomach. "Give me like ten minutes to try to make myself look presentable. Then do you want to go?"

Sam brightened, a smile spreading across the width of her face. "Really?"

"Yeah, why not? Will you drive though?"

"Of course. Go get ready." Sam watched as Brooke turned and went back upstairs.

* * *

The ice cream shop turned out to be more like a tiny ice cream stand in the middle of a strip mall parking lot. Not the obvious choice, given the fact that they had to drive 45 minutes to get to it, the growling of Brooke's stomach getting more and more insistent as time passed. If Sam wanted parking lot ice cream, though, Brooke wasn't going to argue.

Once they arrived, they placed their order then walked over to a nearby bench to sit and enjoy their desert. Again, they had fallen into a comfortable silence, until Brooke's curiosity got the better of her. "So, you seemed pretty intent on getting ice cream at this particular place. Any reason why?" she inquired.

"Yes, actually." Sam started, but she seemed to stall after that, looking at nothing at all, her gaze seeming to land somewhere far away.

Brooke had taken a few large gulps of her chocolate milkshake without really thinking, and she sat back, hoping the new addition to her stomach would stop doing somersaults. Once it seemed to calm down, she looked back at Sam and put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you ok?"

Sam looked to her, seeming like she was trying to make up her mind about something. Finally, she took a deep breath.

"The year before my dad died, he brought me here," Sam started.

"Oh," Brooke said, her full attention now on the brunette.

"We had been Christmas shopping at the mall just down the road. I was 9 years old, and the last place I wanted to be was at this packed mall with my dad, picking out presents that weren't for me. I was being a pain in the ass and finally I told my dad I wasn't going to shop anymore and just plopped myself down on the floor of a jewelry store. He tried reasoning with me, but reason usually doesn't work on 9 year olds, and this was no exception. So he told me that if I just let him stay for a little bit more, he'd take me out for ice cream when we left. Even that didn't do it for me. Finally, he pulled out the big guns and told me that he knew this magical ice cream shop that he would take me to, but only if I was good." Sam stuck her spoon into the caramel sundae she held in her hand before continuing.

"Even though I was a kid, I was still skeptical about a magical ice cream shop, but my curiosity got the better of me and I agreed. I behaved, for the most part, for the rest of our shopping excursion. We finally left the mall and my dad just started driving. I don't even think he knew a place to get ice cream around here. He was just sort of driving, looking around like a madman for any ice cream shop. I guess he saw this place and figured it was as good as anywhere else. I kept asking him if he was sure this place was magic, because it didn't look like it to me. He insisted that it was, so I went along with it. Either way, I was getting ice cream. So we got out of the car, got our ice cream, sat on the curb and ate it. He asked me if I was sure if I had asked Santa for everything I wanted. I already knew that there was no Santa, but I didn't say anything because I thought it would hurt his feelings if I told him I didn't believe in the myth anymore."

Brooke laughed softly. She had gone through a similar experience. She was 14 by the time she finally told her father that she no longer thought that elves crafted her toys and that a jolly fat man brought them down her chimney every Christmas.

Brooke realized Sam's head was bowed and that there were tears in her eyes. In a shaky voice, Sam continued. "Then the most amazing thing happened. It started to snow. It had been unusually cold for a few days, and then it actually started to snow. I had never seen snow before, and there it was, snowing in Southern California two days before Christmas in the parking lot of a magical ice cream stand. I looked at my father and he had this big told-you-so grin on his face. I gave him a huge hug and got ice cream all over his sweater." Sam took in a deep breath and looked at Brooke. "That was a really, really great day."

By this time, both Brooke and Sam were crying. Brooke leaned forward and gave Sam a hug as huge as the one she imagined she had given her father 8 years ago, making sure no one got ice cream on their clothes this time.

Once they finally pulled apart, Brooke asked, "Sam, why did you bring me here?"

Sam took a large spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, taking the time to eat it before giving Brooke an answer. "I wanted to show you something special. When we weren't talking, I was going crazy. I really did miss you, Brooke, and at some point I decided that I wanted you in my life, even if it was just as friends. Now that I have you back, I wanted to show you how much I appreciate you. I guess this was the only way I could think to do that."

Without putting any thought into it, Brooke leaned forward, cupping Sam's cheek and pulling so they were facing each other. Brooke brought their lips together and lingered with a soft kiss, sweet with ice cream. She parted her lips the tiniest bit and let her tongue swipe across Sam's bottom lip in a barely-there brush.

Her senses coming back to her, she pulled away to see if anyone had seen them kissing. To her relief, no one seemed to be around. Looking back to Sam, she saw her staring back at her, a hint of tears still glossing her eyes, looking confused and a bit startled.

"Brooke?"

"I don't think I want to be just friends with you, Sam. That's what I was going to say to you last night. When I woke up this morning, you were all I could think about when I was in the shower. Well, you and I thought a lot about whether or not I could will my hangover away." Brooke smiled when Sam chuckled at this. "I thought maybe I could just pretend I had been drunk and I didn't remember saying everything I said last night. But I remember all of it, Sam, and I meant all of it. I want to try. I want to see what this is."

Sam took in an unsteady breath. "Are you sure? Are you sure this is what you want, Brooke?"

Brooke looked away from Sam's intense gaze, "well, I mean, yes. This is what I want. But we can't tell anyone about it."

"Oh."

Brooke started babbling, barely coming up for air, listing all the reasons why she didn't want to tell anyone that they decided to take a turn for the romantic.

Sam looked on in amusement before she finally decided to intervene. "Hey. Stop for a minute," she requested. Brooke stopped and looked up at Sam. "It's ok if you want to keep this quiet."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, for a while anyway. If this turns into something long-term, eventually I'm going to want to start letting people know, but for now, there's no point in rocking the boat."

Brooke smiled at Sam, a blush coming over her cheeks. A matching redness worked its way across Sam's face, and both girls looked away, mildly embarrassed and not quite sure how to proceed.

"So," Sam laughed, breaking the tense silence, "wanna go out some time?"

"Like on a date?" Brooke asked, bumping her shoulder into Sam's.

"Yes, like on a date," Sam replied, rolling her eyes and bumping herself back into Brooke. "This is quite date-like, but we didn't really plan it that way, so maybe we could officially plan a real one."

Brooke took a sip of her milkshake, then swallowed, nodding. "I'd really like that, Sam."

The two sat in a mostly comfortable silence as they finished their ice cream. As Brooke finished the last loud sip from her cup, Sam turned to her and asked, "feeling better now that you've eaten something?"

Brooke nodded. "I really am. Thanks, Sam."

"No problem," Sam said as she got up to throw out their trash and start heading home.

Brooke stopped her with a hand on her wrist. "No, I mean it, Sam. Thank you for bringing me here. And thanks again for last night." Brooke looked down and slid her hand into Sam's so that their fingers were entwined. "And thank you for telling me the story about your father. It really means a lot to me."

Sam smiled at her and nodded. She lifted their hands and kissed the back of Brooke's. "Come on. Let's go home."


	6. Your New Aesthetic

**Author's Note: Not sure how these ratings things work, but better safe than sorry. That said, ****I'm moving this into the M section, just to be sure. **

**Thanks to everyone who has read this and also to anyone who has taken the time to comment.**

**As always, thanks to GilmoreRos who has been a fantastic beta.**

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Your New Aesthetic**

Three. That was the magic number, right? Three dates, and sex was customary? Brooke wondered if Sam had heard of this rule and if she was expecting something to happen tonight. They were at the end of their third date, and that was only if you didn't count any of the times they had spent together around the house, just the two of them. They had seen a movie earlier and now they were in the driveway to their house, parked in Brooke's car, ten minutes into a fairly serious make-out session.

The blonde practically growled as the tip of Sam's tongue traced along the roof of her mouth. _Well, if you'd stop moaning like a whore in heat, maybe Sam wouldn't expect anything._ Brooke couldn't help it though. Sam made her feel things that she'd honestly never felt up until now. She had heard that expression before and only now, parked in the driveway to their house, did she truly understand what it meant.

All thought left Brooke's mind as Sam lifted her hand to rest on the blonde's left breast. When Sam started to gently massage and press her weight into her hand, Brooke pulled away with a sudden intake of breath. Both girls were speechless for a moment, gazing at one another, panting lightly.

"You ok?" Sam asked, her hands up as if someone had a gun pointed at her. "Sorry if I crossed any lines there."

Brooke was surprised by the length of time it took her to produce a response. It seemed she was having the hardest time trying to get her brain to do anything useful. Just as surprising was the response she finally came up with.

"Do you want to go up to my room?" She would have slapped herself on the forehead if she weren't terrified into a state of paralysis.

"Oh," Sam said, looking like a deer caught in headlights. "Uh... Yeah. We could do that."

Never one to rescind an offer, Brooke led the way as the girls got out of the car and made their way inside. Once upstairs, Sam stood in the middle of Brooke's bedroom, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Brooke walked over to her desk and turned on the small lamp so they weren't in complete darkness, although she wondered to herself if it would be better if they were.

Sam finally broke the silence with, "I kind of feel like I've never been in here before."

Brooke turned around to look at the brunette. Sam was looking around the room, seeming as if she were soaking in every last detail. "What do you mean? Of course you have."

"I don't know. I mean, I know that I have been here before, it just feels different this time."

Brooke couldn't help but agree and nodded. Although the room wasn't any different, they had never been in this particular situation before, and Brooke still wasn't sure she was all that comfortable with it. They had kissed and had started taking things just a little bit further physically over the past week or so, but this really did feel different somehow.

"I don't quite know what to do with myself, Brooke. And you're being awfully quiet," Sam said, shaking the blonde out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Sam. Here, let me take your jacket." After placing the article of clothing on a nearby chair, Brooke turned to face her date. Taking in a breath of courage, she advanced on the other girl and reached her hand around to the back of Sam's neck. "I had a really great time tonight," she said before kissing her.

As was the case with most of the kisses they'd shared lately, it wasn't long before both girls were making noises beyond their control. Pulling away, Brooke placed her hands on Sam's shoulders and gently pushed her back and down so she was sitting at the foot of the bed. In one swift movement, Brooke pulled her shirt over her head and knelt in front of the brunette. Reaching up, she cupped Sam's cheek in her hand and lured her down into another hungry kiss.

Now on autopilot, Brooke started unbuttoning Sam's shirt, which quickly found its way to the floor. Getting up, she placed one knee on either side of Sam's thighs and rested her weight in her lap. Finally breaking their kiss, Brooke leaned back and undid the clasp in the front of her bra. Slowly, she peeled first the left then right cup away from her body, revealing herself to Sam.

Sam reached up to caress the blonde's left breast as she let her mouth find its twin. Brooke's nipples responded immediately as did the rest of her body and she started to rock in Sam's lap.

As wonderful as this all was feeling, Brooke felt the need to take a more active role and pushed Sam so she was lying flat on her back. Brooke kissed her hard on the mouth, pressing their bodies together. After enjoying Sam's lips for a while, she decided to explore other areas, working her way along the brunette's jaw line to her ear and neck. Venturing further, Brooke wondered when Sam's bra had come off, because she certainly didn't remember it happening. Not that she minded, of course, but still.

Sam's bra and its mysterious disappearance moved themselves to the back burner as Brooke dragged her tongue against Sam's hardening nipple. Long fingers worked their way into blonde hair and the name "Brooke" was spoken with breathless desire. Taking this as encouragement, Brooke moved down along the side of Sam's torso, tasting her ribs and hips. Licking around the outside of Sam's belly button, Brooke grasped the waist of the brunette's tight jeans. She worked her fingers along the material for a moment, coming to a rest on the button. Smoothly, she popped it open.

"Brooke." She didn't think she would ever grow tired of hearing that. Reaching one hand around to the small of Sam's back, Brooke grasped the zipper in the fingers of her other hand.

"Brooke," Sam said again as her fly was slowly being unzipped. "Brooke, stop."

All of Brooke froze, except for her head, which shot up to look Sam in the face. "What?" she asked.

"I said stop. Or at least…" Sam paused, panting. She shimmied herself onto her elbows. "Or at least just slow down for a second."

Brooke sat up, suddenly feeling very embarrassed and very vulnerable and very naked. She started frantically looking around for her shirt, a pillow, anything to cover her bare breasts. "I'm sorry, Sam. I thought this was what you wanted."

Sam, noticing that Brooke seemed to be simultaneously floundering and turning progressively darker shades of red, reached her hand out to lightly grasp the blonde's hand. "Brooke, calm down. Please." She scooted closer and brought her other hand up to cup Brooke's cheek. This seemed to set the blonde at a bit of ease, as she stilled her movements and looked up into the other girl's eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry about. Things escalated kind of quick just then, and I thought we should maybe put the brakes on for a second."

Brooke turned her quickly blushing face away from Sam's, the brunette's hand falling away from her cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go so fast. I just thought this was what you wanted. I've really liked spending time with you these past couple of weeks and I didn't want to mess everything up."

"And you thought that this was necessary to avoid messing things up?" Sam's eyebrows came together, her face showing confusion and, making Brooke's breath hitch a bit, affection and caring.

"I had heard about this rule or whatever about the third date so I thought you might be expecting us to…" Brooke trailed off, her eyes dropping to look at anything but Sam.

So many thoughts crossed Sam's mind. On the one hand, for Brooke to think that she would need to have sex with her to keep her interested was absurd, and mildly hurtful. But on the other hand, seeing Brooke's shoulders slump and her arm come up to cover her breasts, she realized how the wrong reaction from her could be much more hurtful to this fragile girl.

"Brooke…" Sam started, gently. "I think you spend too much time worrying about what other people expect from you. You say that this is what you thought I wanted… is this what you wanted?"

Brooke looked back up at Sam, seeing her leaning back on her hands, making no attempt to cover herself. Not even as Brooke's eyes lingered on her flat stomach and small but amazing breasts. She felt a pang of jealousy. Not because of Sam's body, although, the brunette could really make anyone jealous in that department. Brooke realized, however, that Sam was right. She always had a nagging voice in the back of her brain that was constantly in fear of disapproval, and it seemed to her that Sam just never had to deal with that.

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about… being with you. I think about it a lot actually." Brooke paused and looked at the bedspread. "I guess I don't know what I want."

Sam sat up and looked around for a moment, before reaching down to the floor. She came back up and offered the item in her hand to the blonde. "Do you want to put your shirt back on?"

"Thanks," Brooke said as she took the shirt and slipped it on over her head.

Sam watched the blonde dress. Brooke let out a heavy breath after the article of clothing was covering her again, and it was as if Sam could see a weight being lifted off of the blonde's shoulders. "Do you want me to put my shirt back on?"

Brooke looked up at her. "It's up to you. Whatever you're comfortable with, Sam."

Sam leaned forward and slid her fingers around Brooke's wrist. Tugging gently, she lay on her back and drew Brooke down with her, wrapping the blonde's arm around her waist. They both seemed to let out the same breath as they settled into the bed and each other. "I'm comfortable with this," she whispered as she traced her fingertips up and down Brooke's arm, lightly rubbing small circles into her skin.

They lay like that for a while. Not moving or talking, just laying together. Finally, Sam broke the silence. "Brooke, I don't want you to think you need to act a certain way or do anything in particular to try to keep me around. I just want you to be yourself. And I would never want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable or anything that you aren't certain you really want." Brooke shifted on top of Sam and looked up into her eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity.

"I've thought about having sex with you too," Sam continued. "And I really do want to. But I don't want us to do it because it's what we think we should be doing. I want it to just happen naturally. I think when the time is right, we'll both feel it. This didn't feel like it was the time. Not to me anyway."

Brooke dropped her eyes once again, staring Sam directly in the chin. "No. I guess it didn't feel quite right. I'm sorry, Sam. I guess I freaked out." She leaned up and kissed Sam softly on the lips. "Thanks for being amazing and understanding and stopping and thinking for the both of us."

"Well, someone has to do the thinking around here. Don't worry, baby, I'm looking out for you."

At hearing Sam call her "baby", Brooke wrapped her arms tighter around the brunette and snuggled in closer, feeling protected and cared for. She traced her fingers along Sam's stomach, feeling her muscles flex and twitch under her skin. She asked, "Is this ok?"

"Mmm," Sam hummed. She craned her neck a bit so that she could kiss the blonde on her hairline. "This is definitely ok. I'll tell you if it isn't. But thanks for asking."

"I want to thank you for something, actually." Brooke laid her hand flat against Sam's skin and rubbed it up and down, across her ribs, back towards her belly button.

"For what?" Sam asked softly.

Brooke took in a deep breath. "For being brave. For telling me how you felt about me that day. And more recently, for being calm when I freak out."

"You've been pretty brave too, you know." Sam brought her hand up to Brooke's face, tilting it so she could look her in the eye. "You decided to give us a chance. You kissed me first. You're more brave than you know, Brooke. I know you think you aren't sometimes, but you are."

"Sammy," Brooke whispered. She leaned up and kissed Sam. It wasn't rushed or desperate. It was soft and slow and caring and everything that both girls were feeling right in this moment. When they pulled apart, Brooke looked into Sam's eyes and felt her own sting with the threat of tears. Swallowing to keep them at bay, she said, "be my girlfriend."

It wasn't a question, and it wasn't a demand. It was a soft, simple request and it made Sam's heart jump in her chest. "I'd love to be your girlfriend, Brooke. Be my girlfriend back."

Brooke smiled and kissed her again. "Of course I will."

"See," Sam hugged her tighter, "you're totally the brave one."


	7. Blister

**Thanks, as always, to GilmoreRos, my lovely beta.**

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Blister**

Sam felt feverish as Brooke's fingertips traced a path up the inside of her bare thigh. The brunette never thought so much involuntary spasming was possible, short of a seizure. She could feel Brooke's hot breath on her ear and neck as the blonde spelled out all the deliciously enticing things she wanted to do to her body. At least that's what Sam assumed Brooke was saying since she was currently unable to speak or understand language.

In some respects, it was more exciting not knowing what was being said. It was as if she had travelled around the world and stumbled upon a lover whose native tongue was Italian or Portuguese. Only this was no stranger. This was Brooke McQueen, and it didn't matter what language she was speaking because her featherlight ministrations had found their way to the dampness of Sam's underpants. Desperately seeking more contact, Sam started to writhe, only to find that her movement was limited, restrained. She realized that her arms and legs were bound to the bed. Searching her memory, Sam could neither recall being tied to the bed nor having a headboard.

Before having a chance to think about it too much, Sam's attention was brought back to Brooke and her seemingly magical hands. Every bit of skin that they touched came alive. It was as if they were everywhere at once. Sam's breasts, her thighs, her hips, stomach, neck, her back and then suddenly, Brooke's hands were gone and her mouth was in one very concentrated place. Sam felt as though she were floating towards a place she had never been. A place she had never even heard of, but somehow had always dreamed of going. Floating higher and faster, her pleasure becoming more intense until it was almost palpable. Then, without warning, Sam was falling. There wasn't the explosive burst of release she had been yearning for. There was only the hard crash of reality settling in to Sam's brain as her head jerked back, her eyes opened and she realized she was the only person in both her bed and her bedroom.

Ever since their encounter in Brooke's room where they had come close to having sex, Sam's appetite for the blonde had seemed to flourish, becoming stronger every day. She didn't regret stopping things from going further that night, and she was still happy that they were trying to take things one day at a time and not rush into anything but she couldn't deny that an intense, visceral desire was inhabiting her lately.

The frustrated brunette tried to fall back to sleep but memories of her fantasy haunted her and kept her from drifting off. Without even really thinking about it, Sam's hand slipped into her underwear and her mind slipped back into the dream it had just been enjoying. Her own fingers were no match for Dream-Brooke's lips and tongue, but at this point, Sam was so slick and swollen it didn't matter. Soon enough, her hips were rising off the mattress and "Brooke," was being uttered quietly, but urgently. Two hours later, Sam's alarm woke her and she smiled at herself upon realizing her hand was still snug inside her underwear.

At school that morning, Sam kept having flashbacks to her dream. One moment she would be listening to her friends talking about summer vacation plans and the next she could practically feel Brooke's teeth tugging at her bottom lip. At the end of the period, the bell rang and Sam was thankful to be able to focus on making her way to her next class. It was a welcome distraction from the disruptive train of thought her brain had been fixated on this morning so far. Just get to class. Count steps if you have to.

* * *

Brooke was smitten. It was as simple as that. She couldn't really pinpoint the moment when it happened. All she knew was that in recent weeks, Sam had rapidly gone from the girl she was crushing on to the girl she thought about almost every waking moment.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" As Brooke walked into her third unsuspecting person of the day, she realized that maybe thinking about Sam constantly was starting to be a bit detrimental. Trying to stay alert while heading to her next class, Brooke silently thanked God or Buddha or her guidance counselor that she had study hall fifth period. Study hall, where it was customary to zone out and daydream. Arriving at the classroom, Brooke found Nicole and Mary Cherry standing outside the door, appraising every outfit that walked by. Rather loudly.

"What's Spam's damage today?"

Brooke's head shot up with record speed at the mention of canned meat. Following Nicole's line of vision, she saw Sam barreling down the hallway with a stern look on her face. "I don't know," Brooke said, distractedly, her eyes trailing after her girlfriend. _My girlfriend... heh..._ Their status was still relatively new and it made the blonde smile inwardly. _My girlfriend who definitely looks like she has something on her mind._

Sam was quickly swallowed by the crowd, but Brooke let her gaze linger. A waving hand caught her attention and she made eye contact with a wildly grinning Josh. Brooke's brain switched to autopilot and suddenly she was a smiling, bubbling, joyful cheerleader waving down the hall at the quarterback. The bell rang. Josh shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, "later," before turning and jogging off in the same direction Sam had gone. Brooke turned and filed into her study hall behind Nicole and Mary Cherry.

Makeup. Shopping. Boys. Fashion faux pas of the day as witnessed thus far. She couldn't possibly care less about her friends' onslaught of conversation. All Brooke could think of was the look on Sam's face as she had raced down the hall. The 47 minutes until their shared Biology class felt like it was taking forever to pass. Finally, Brooke had a moment of genius and decided to write Sam a note. Hopefully it would pass some time and help her to stop worrying.

_Hey,_

_What's up? I saw you in the hallway and you looked like maybe something was wrong. I hope everything is ok. I wish this period would end because I really want to see you. I'm worried. I'm probably overreacting. I'm sure everything is fine and you were just thinking about something normal._

_You just looked... I don't know. Unsettled. You looked unsettled and..."_

"Brooke!" Nicole whispered loudly, leaning closer to her friend's desk.

"What?!" she replied, her head snapping up and her hand instinctively sliding on top of the paper she had just been writing on.

"Whucha writin?" Mary Cherry inquired.

"Just a note."

"Who could you be writing a note to?" asked Nicole. "Your two best friends are sitting right in front of you."

Brooke hesitated.

"Oooh, Ah know! Yer writin' a luuuuuuuv note! I saw you and Joshie-poo makin' pudding eyes at each other in the hallway." Mary Cherry batted her eyes, first at Nicole, then Brooke. "Yall's are getting back together!"

"Is that true, Brooke?" Nicole asked, shooting a raised eyebrow at her friend, clearly stunned to hear the news of her best friend possibly reuniting with her ex.

A moment passed. Blue eyes flickered between the two expectant cheerleaders. "I don't know," was offered. "I mean... Yes. I'm writing a note to Josh. But I don't know if we're getting back together. I mean... NO! We're not getting back together," Brooke finished, firmly.

"They why, on Gwyneth's green Earth, are you writin' him a love note?" asked Mary Cherry.

"It's not a love note!" Brooke said, a bit too loud. A few glances were thrown her way, but Nicole scowled and frightened everyone back into submission.

"It's not a love note," she continued in a softer tone. "I've just been kind of busy lately and haven't had a chance to talk to him. I'm trying to catch up a bit. That's all."

Her friends stared at her for a moment; Nicole with scepticism firmly in place, Mary Cherry with a crazed sort of vapidity. Nicole rolled her eyes and ended the conversation with, "whatever," leaving Brooke to finish writing her letter.

_"You looked unsettled and you've gotten me all unsettled with you. That's all really._

_Mary Cherry and Nicole just gave me the third degree about who I'm writing to, and I've lost my train of thought. All I know is that I was thinking about you, and I hope you're ok._

_3_

_B_

_xoxoxo"_

Brooke clicked her pen closed, folded the piece of paper into a tidy little square, drew a heart on one side and spent the rest of the period pretending to pay attention to her friends while watching the clock, eagerly awaiting the ringing of the bell.

* * *

Finally, Biology rolled around. Brooke walked into the classroom and noticed that Sam was nowhere to be found._ That's odd,_ Brooke thought._ Sam is usually here before I am._ Just as the bell was ringing, Sam ran through the door and sat down next to Brooke, clearly avoiding eye contact. By the time Sam had taken her seat, Ms. Glass had already started explaining the day's lesson, eliminating Brooke's chance to talk to her. Instead, she reached into her pocket and withdrew the note she had written earlier, sliding it across the black lab table to Sam.

The brunette unfolded the piece of paper and read the words that had been scribbled hastily. Smiling despite the distraction and slight agitation she had been feeling all day, Sam reached her hand across to write on a sheet of paper in Brooke's open notebook. _I'm fine. I promise. Everything is fine._

"Alright, listen up class..." And with that, Sam was glad to have a reason to be distracted.

Once their lesson was over and the bell rang, Sam shot up out of her chair and said a quick goodbye to Brooke as she tried to make her escape. Unfortunately enough for her, she ran directly into someone on her way out and dropped all of her books.

"How about you watch where the hell you're going, spaz?!" Nicole shouted as she spun around to see who had just run into her like a Mac truck. "Spam... I should have guessed. Why do they let you out of the institution?"

"Sorry, Nicole." Sam bent down to pick up her scattered belongings. Nicole stood above her glaring at the brunette with a mixture of anger and confusion. Normally, Sam was a worthy sparring partner. It wasn't like her to just apologize without a fight. Glancing down at the ground, Nicole saw a folded piece of paper with a large heart drawn on it. She reached down and snatched it out from under Sam's hand. Sam stood up and asked Nicole, "can I have that please?"

"Are you sure this belongs to you?" Nicole asked with one eyebrow raised.

Brooke had witnessed the entire exchange and was glad that Sam had been delayed on her way out of the classroom. She hurriedly made her way over to her friend and girlfriend. "Hey, guys. Hope you're playing nice."

Nicole turned her head to look at the other blonde when she spoke and Sam took the opportunity to grab the note from her hand and run out of the room shouting, "got to get to class!" over her shoulder.

"What was that all about?" Brooke mused.

Nicole, studying her friend curiously, replied, "I was wondering the same thing myself."

* * *

Trying to make as little noise as possible, Sam opened the front door and gently walked inside. It was 10pm; well within her curfew, but she was desperately trying to avoid having to see Brooke. The dream she had the night before still had her on edge once school was over, so she had stayed late to work on an article for the Zapruder. She must have drifted off at some point, however, because she had woken up when her head slipped from the hand she had propped on her desk, jolted from the middle of another dream involving Brooke, herself and black lingerie.

At that point, she knew it would be best to continue to avoid the blonde, so she called Carmen to see if she was free to hang out for a while. Sam had been fairly "busy" during the past couple of weeks, so Carmen was more than happy to have her as a guest. They had done some homework, had dinner and then watched a movie. Now, Sam had come home and was hoping to avoid Brooke and just get into her bedroom. She made her way upstairs and down the hall slowly and quietly. Just as she made her way to her room, Brooke barged out of her own bedroom and pushed Sam inside, closing the door behind them quickly.

"Where have you been all night?" Brooke asked, trying to keep her voice low, so as not to attract the attention of anyone else in the house.

"Jeez, Brooke. What's the deal?" the brunette demanded.

"I'm sorry," Brooke said in a stage whisper, "but I feel like you have been avoiding me all day long. Where did you go after school?"

"I was at Carmen's! Do I have to report to you on everywhere I go?" Sam stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest defensively.

"Of course not. But it would have been nice to have a conversation with me at some point today. I wrote you that note saying that I was worried about you and all I got was an 'I'm fine,' and then you literally RAN away from me! Directly into Nicole who keeps giving me funny looks now, thank you very much. So don't tell me that you haven't been avoiding me! You HAVE been avoiding me and I..." Effectively cutting off her girlfriend's rant, Sam lunged forward and kissed Brooke full on the lips, pressing her entire front against her, pushing them back until Brooke was up against the wall. It was a searing kiss that conveyed all the tension that had been building inside of Sam all day long, their bodies pressing together in all the right contours. Parting Brooke's lips with her tongue, she was thrilled when the blonde breathed a throaty moan into her mouth.

Proceeding down Brooke's neck, Sam took brief moments in between kisses to offer an explanation. "I... was avoiding you... because I keep... having... these dreams about you..."

"Sam..." Brooke hissed, bringing her hands up to Sam's head, threading her fingers into the girl's long brown locks.

"And... I was afraid... that I would do this..." Sam pressed her hips into her girlfriend more firmly and brought her lips back to Brooke's, "to you... in school... in the hallway... in bio." Sam rubbed her nose against Brooke's, pecking her lips lightly. "I was going crazy," she whispered. "So yes," her composure coming back to her a bit, she stepped back half a step, giving them just enough space to that they could still feel each other's body heat, "I was avoiding you today. I'm sorry. I had to. I had this dream last night..."

Brooke stole a play from her girlfriend's book and closed the distance between them, kissing Sam once again. "Shut up," she said against her lips. "You're forgiven."


End file.
